User blog:CuddleFluffy/SinSeren... CANON?! A Relationship Analysis
By the way, thar be spoilers ahead, matey. So, there's a moment of the manga that kind of surprised me on my re-reads, perhaps because of how things end up. It's in chapter 84 when Mystras in looking down at Sinbad and Seren interacting and he says that they have a "good atmosphere." As in... they're not fighting, right? That ''could have ''been what he meant... if it weren't for the next lines. He asks Pipirika if she and Sinbad ever had "''that ''kind of relationship." He means a romantic one. What Mystras believes he's witnessing is a romantic moment. Okay, okay, okay, so maybe, just ''maybe, ''he's referring to Serendine. After all, she's the one who's blushing and shy all of the sudden, and Sinbad flirts with girls all the time so it's not that weird. That's where this panel comes in: The visual medium is part of the storytelling. When we see Serendine here, it's through Sinbad's eyes. She's radiant. She's shiny. Her hair is fluttering in the wind and if I remember correctly, they're indoors. I don't know about you, but that panel gives me the sense that his heart just skipped a beat. Admittedly, the moment was small, but I believe the intention was to show there was a spark between them that could have gone somewhere. So then, why doesn't it go anywhere? It goes downhill in Zepar's dungeon. Serendine and Sinbad have different values. Sinbad uses vague, big picture thinking, and Serendine uses concrete, small picture thinking. Their ideologies are very different. Then she asks him to marry her and.... ... well... he can't, can he? Sinbad is willing to get his hands dirty in all kinds of ways. War is not one of them. He never says no, exactly. Maybe he hoped to keep that door open in case all other avenues failed, but even if his heart wavers for a moment, he hasn't given up on creating a country peacefully. He sets out to do that. Serendine, on the other hand, is set on making him a revolutionary for the good of Parthevia. This is a more realistic path for him to take, but he won't do it because he refuses to settle. Then, at a highly emotional moment in Sinbad's life, Serendine, perhaps the only person as stubborn and headstrong as Sinbad himself, pushes him. He snaps, and she realizes he's not going to accept her offer. Serendine doesn't give up, because her country comes before Sinbad, before herself, before anything. This is the fundamental rift between them. Her nationalistic beliefs lead her to betray and use him. This is the tragedy between them. They're so different and yet so similar. They were never able to put each other before their conflicting goals, and so they never really had a chance. But, for the briefest moment, there was a small flame that started to kindle. I like to think that, in the same way Alibaba had to embrace parts of Cassim and become a more rounded person to prevent the two streams of rukh from killing him, Sinbad embraced parts of Serendine too. In the end, Sinbad does understand, and he forgives her. I don't exactly ship them, but when I think about it, it makes me kind of sad. Category:Blog posts